I remember listening to Green Day.
I was about thirteen or so, and they were my first album purchase. However, the album I got was not Dookie. 1039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours was my first, with my own money. The compilation of all their early EP's, songs they played over and over at Gilman St. It must have happened at the Best Buy in Rockford, Illinois. I remember my friend Natasha being there. I remember immediately playing the CD on my disc-man as her dad drove us back to her house. My newly adolescent brain was more than ready and willing to absorb all the attitude, power and raw energy that was punk rock (or more accurately its offshoot). Sure enough I was grabbed, no, brutally accosted, by this new sound. I immediately thought "If Billie Joe Armstrong can play power chords, I can play power chords too!" Cocky, I know, especially for a thirteen year-old who'd never touched a guitar and wouldn't pick one up for another couple of years. Green Day's effect was fairly impressive, considering that my previous musical background involved my mother's friend giving me the newest Backstreet Boys CD every year on my birthday. Needless to say, their packaging was rarely broken through, and if it was, the CDs were quickly forgotten among the dust bunnies underneath my bed.
“...Sure enough I was grabbed, no, brutally accosted, by this new sound. I immediately thought "If Billie Joe Armstrong can play power chords, I can play power chords too!”
Green Day - “Don’t Leave Me” (from 1039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours, 1991)
Listening to music in the car was a staple of family road trips and my first real experience with music.
Road trips were fairly common for my family when I was younger. My parents had recently moved from Romania to Canada, and were eager to see new sights. My dad would tell me stories of communist Romania, about how certain music, tapes, shows, and radio stations were banned at the time. He and his friends would somehow tune in to a frequency on a small handheld radio and would be able to hear static-ridden renditions of popular songs like The Beatles' "Let It Be". With limited knowledge of English and poor fidelity, they would often get the lyrics wrong, which made for a fun game of "misheard lyrics". In a self-deprecating sort of way, this became an opportunity for them to purposefully amuse themselves. In this case, as told to me by my father, "Let It Be" became "Lady Pee" (I know, I know. No wonder I'm surprised at my own sense of humor.)
“...He [my dad] and his friends would somehow tune in to a frequency on a small handheld radio and would be able to hear static-ridden renditions of popular songs like The Beatles' "Let It Be".”
The Beatles - “Let It Be” (from Let It Be, 1970)
Considerable time had passed since my dad's younger days, and on those road trips, my dad's musical taste branched out from The Sweet, to CCR, which were always playing in the car. My mom liked The Eagles, and The BeeGees (definitely the disco stuff). To this day, I surprisingly haven't developed a liking for full-out male falsetto. However, I recall singing Deep Purple's Smoke On The Water (fire in the sky), at the top of my lungs on a family trip. Granted, it was mostly comprised of me singing, or rather, screaming, the opening riff over and over again.
This was the first song I truly "heard" or payed attention to.
I must have been around seven or eight years-old. I was sandwiched between my mom and my grandma in the backseat and my piercing screams made my grandpa force us to stop at a gas station in an effort to shut me up. It seems to me, that I've been equally loud ever since. Thus began my love for British rock. That quickly transcended into British punk where I discovered The Clash, my favorite band to this day, and probably my biggest influence.
“...I recall singing Deep Purple’s Smoke on
The Water...at the top of my lungs on a family trip. Granted, I was mostly singing, or rather, screaming, the opening riff over and over again.”
Deep Purple - “Smoke On The Water” (from Machine Head, 1972)
Those stories make up my foundation. In one way or another they shaped my love and taste for music and allowed me to branch out to form my own musical tastes and opinions. Since the tender age of 15, I've been lucky enough to successfully pursue my musical endeavors with several like-minded individuals. Since moving to LA, I am now able to play in several bands and have grown very attached to each project. As I navigate the tight-knit circle I've built for myself, I've often wondered what inspired my musician friends to pursue music in varying degrees. Who influenced them to pick up a guitar? What was the first song they remember hearing or listening to? Did they respond to their parents', family, or friends' musical taste? And for fun, what was their first CD purchase? I sought answers to all of these questions, and documented them in video form. Quick, flipcam clips of my friends, many of whom I am in bands with, edited together as a collection of story snippets. The goal was to get an idea of what influences other artists and how they got their start. I interviewed the members of Sue Scrofa, who moved to LA from Alabama to pursue music, Hi Ho Silver Oh (half North Carolinians, half California boys), and Fatty Dearest (the band with the most member crossover between all three of the bands). Their stories are all below.
Who was the FIRST band or artist you remember listening to or being exposed to?
IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE:
Phil Eastman, Charlyne Yi, Alan Rogers, Alyssa Crisswell, Kevin Manwarren, Casey Trela, Jon Mackey, Billy Chew, Shane Jewell
Who inspired you to play music?
What was the FIRST CD you bought or owned?
